Product quality and reliability has become increasingly crucial in the era of global proliferation of goods exchanges and sales. With increased globalization, products are distributed worldwide, and manufacturing may also be carried out globally due to resource variety and/or budgetary considerations. As such, management and supervision of product development and quality control has become a progressively difficult task.
For example, defective products may be manufactured due to operator negligence, and/or equipment malfunctions, etc. Depending on the nature of the product, the defect may cause malfunction (e.g., performance issues of electronics devices, scratched CDs, etc), or have more serious implications that endanger lives in cases such as a malfunctioning pacemaker, incorporation of toxic elements during food processing. In these situations, it may be important to identify the source of the problem in a timely fashion to prevent further distribution and manufacture of defected products. However, due to a diverse supply chain, and global manufacturing plants, identifying the problem source is frequently a time consuming and labor intensive task.
Additionally, advent of technology has encouraged and facilitated product counterfeiting. Product counterfeiting may encompass marketing impure jewelry products, brand-naming generic drugs/non-approved drugs, counterfeiting medicine, and/or brand-naming generic soda. Certain situations result in monetary loss whereas in some situations, lives may be at stake, such as a non-approved drug of unknown origin causing unexpected reactions.
Furthermore, different countries also have different export and import control regulations. Imports of certain products may be regulated and/or prohibited. To circumvent import/export controls and/or taxation issues, products may be disguised and packaged as an alternate product with more lenient regulations and/or lower taxes before shipment across foreign borders. This may significantly impact government tax revenues. The ability to track and monitor distribution of sensitive items (e.g., weapons, drugs, alcohol, medication, etc.) may also be inhibited.